Government Waste of Our Money

Info as provided by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn in his annual “Wastebook”.

Government workers who were placed on leave for disciplinary reasons, such as misconduct, security concerns or criminal issues, received $20 million while on leave this year.

One that takes the cake is the $10,000 the government spent to watch grass grow.

The government shelled out $387,000 to provide rabbits with a relaxing daily massage. The critters were treated to a “mechanical device that simulates the long, flowing strokes used in Swedish massages”.

The government dropped $50,000 on a project to study the swirl of sea monkeys’ collective movements. The researchers did so by choreographing a synchronized swimming routine for the tiny shrimp.

The government also spent $856,000 to throw mountain lions on a treadmill and $171,000 to watch monkeys gamble. They also spent $331,000 on a study that led to a mind-blowing discovery, that "hungry people get cranky and aggressive."

Now, before I get attacked for placing this thread here it IS Stern related. $10 Million for a remodeled closet and $7 Million for a cat house? Maybe Stern should be our next leader after all, he would fit right in.

Gambling monkeys, dancing zombies and mountain lions on treadmills are just a few projects exposed in Wastebook 2014 – highlighting $25 billion in Washington’s worst spending of the year.

Wastebook 2014 — the report Washington doesn’t want you to read —reveals the 100 most outlandish government expenditures this year, costing taxpayers billions of dollars.

“With no one watching over the vast bureaucracy, the problem is not just what Washington isn’t doing, but what it is doing.” Dr. Coburn said. “Only someone with too much of someone else’s money and not enough accountability for how it was being spent could come up some of these projects.”

“I have learned from these experiences that Washington will never change itself. But even if the politicians won’t stop stupid spending, taxpayers always have the last word.”

For example, lawmakers attached a rider to a larger bill requiring NASA to build a $350 million launch pad tower, which was mothballed as soon as it was completed because the rockets it was designed to test were scrapped years ago. Similarly, when USDA attempted to close an unneeded sheep research station costing nearly $2 million every year to operate, politicians in the region stepped in to keep it open.

I wish they would spend millions to study me sitting on my ass. But I'm not on welfare.

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I am sure that if you crafted a written submission of your needs there would be a grant available. If someone could convince the government to spend money to train sea monkeys to dance in the water your ass idea has legs!

I am sure that if you crafted a written submission of your needs there would be a grant available. If someone could convince the government to spend money to train sea monkeys to dance in the water your ass idea has legs!

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i used to be one of the guys who signed the contracts for pissing away taxpayer money. the whole grant process stinks. there are good and useful grants and then there are projects that are just to throw away money, piss us off and show us that they (beerocrats and political appointees) can do what they please and get well paid to do it.

i used to be one of the guys who signed the contracts for pissing away taxpayer money. the whole grant process stinks. there are good and useful grants and then there are projects that are just to throw away money, piss us off and show us that they (beerocrats and political appointees) can do what they please and get well paid to do it.

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So want to share some hints? I have several "GREAT" ideas! My first idea would be to study the members of the Dawgshed to determine what draws them here, like moths to a flame. I think $75K should cover my first year.

So want to share some hints? I have several "GREAT" ideas! My first idea would be to study the members of the Dawgshed to determine what draws them here, like moths to a flame. I think $75K should cover my first year.

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sometimes the value of a project is determined by how much money the potential grantees request. i'd up your request by $50k and demand a 4 wheel drive vehicle too.

i worked for a place that gave over a million dollar grant to a guy to remove/dispose of in an environmentally friendly way, a huge number of tires.

they fronted him the money. he disappeared with all of it about a month after award. i was hired to make sure shit like that didn't happen again.

Even fighting the wars in the last almost 15 years, why can't they use old stock? They buy new ammo continuously and use it in battle and training while letting billions in strategic stockpiles age and become unusable. This is what caused the U.S.S. Forrestal disaster, even after fighting the war in Korea and then Vietnam for years, only then they started to clean out old dumb bomb stockpiles from WWII. They shipped the old thin-skinned bombs to carriers and airstrips to finally get used and it was one of those that detonated during the fuel fire and started the chain reaction that almost sank the ship.

The Pentagon should hire someone from a supermarket chain to teach them how to rotate stock, put the new stuff in the back and use the oldest stock first. They could at least sell the surplus useable ammo to police or civilians to burn off.

Info as provided by Republican Sen. Tom Coburn in his annual “Wastebook”.

Government workers who were placed on leave for disciplinary reasons, such as misconduct, security concerns or criminal issues, received $20 million while on leave this year.

One that takes the cake is the $10,000 the government spent to watch grass grow.

The government shelled out $387,000 to provide rabbits with a relaxing daily massage. The critters were treated to a “mechanical device that simulates the long, flowing strokes used in Swedish massages”.

The government dropped $50,000 on a project to study the swirl of sea monkeys’ collective movements. The researchers did so by choreographing a synchronized swimming routine for the tiny shrimp.

The government also spent $856,000 to throw mountain lions on a treadmill and $171,000 to watch monkeys gamble. They also spent $331,000 on a study that led to a mind-blowing discovery, that "hungry people get cranky and aggressive."

Now, before I get attacked for placing this thread here it IS Stern related. $10 Million for a remodeled closet and $7 Million for a cat house? Maybe Stern should be our next leader after all, he would fit right in.

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BT:

That's all chump change. All of us in DC know that the golden ring is a Defense Dept. contract. It's a license to print money.

You can provide sub-standard products and service and still get paid. Hell, we had a DOD contract officer stand in front of the press (during Iraq war) and state that a contractor "did not necessarily have to deliver" the product and still would get paid.

The Defense Dept. has NEVER passed an audit. It's so much money, going in so many directions, no one even cares about it.

Then again, people have been getting obscenely rich off war, since war was invented.